Twelve Years a Slave

By
Solomon Northup
Copyright Helbling Languages 2014

Before Reading Activities

Pages 8-9
1 chains, abolish, work, punishment, owner, legal property
2 a) legal property, b) chains, c) punishment, d) owner
3 a) 3, b) 4, c) 2, d) 1
4 a) steamboat, b) sailing ship, c) wagon, d) on foot
5 a) 2, b) 4, c) 3, d) 1

Pages 10-11
1 a) lived quite well, b) a hard worker, c) a family man
2 a) T, b) T, c) F, d) F, e) T
3 a) 5, b) 4, c) 3, d) 2, e) 1
4 a) Ford good, b) Tibeats bad, c) Epps bad
5 a) religious, master, lucky
b) bad-tempered, opposite
c)spoke, manners, drank, cunning

Page 20
Imagine
Brown and Hamilton kidnapped Solomon

Page 21
Association
Spirit broken, yard, horse blankets, pen
Page 31
Chapin
He tells Tibeats that Solomon is still William Fords property and his duty is to protect him.

Page 42
Slaves
pick cotton, feed the mules and pigs, cut wood, make a fire, cook supper and lunch

Page 64
Slave breaker
Epps had no sense of kindness, he destroyed the spirit of his slaves, he saw the slave as a
piece of property, like a dog

Page 65
Journey home
Solomon uses a train and a steamboat

After Reading Activities

Pages 70-71
Comprehension
1 a) F, b) F, c) F, d) T, e) F, f) T, g) T, h) T
2 a) He was freed by the Northup family, b) he was born a free man, c) his real name was
Solomon Northup, e) his first owner was the only reasonably kind person
3 a) Hamilton and Brown, b) free papers, c) New York and Washington, d) New Orleans, e)
Arthur, f) $1,000
4 a) 3, b) 1, c) 4, d) 2
6 a) 3, b) 1, c) 4, d) 2
7 Christmas
Pages 72-73
Characters

1 a) freed, b) debt, c) satisfied, d) hang, e) cruel, f) drunk/whipping, g) helped, h) freedom

3 b)

4 a) Ford felt it was right to have slaves as it was normal where he lived and most people
had them.
b) Where we live influences how most people think.

5 a) It is Solomon himself, b) He is saying slaves are the same as monkeys, i.e. animals,
c) Chapin is trying to convince Tibeats that also slaves have certain rights

Pages 74-75

Plot and Theme

1 a) 4, b) 7, c) 1, d) 6, e) 2, f) 5, g) 8, h) 3
2 a) dawn, b) dusk, c) 15 minutes, d) 85 kilos, e) a whipping, f) corn and bacon, g) feed
mules and pigs, cut wood, cook super and lunch for the next day, h) after midnight
3 b), e), f)
4 a) some white people behave like monkey s/ animals
b) how we live, our brain, our rules and laws

Pages 76-77

Language

1 connected to slavery owner, slave dealer, master, whipping, punishment, prisoner

against slavery abolish, abolitionist, freedom, free man, liberty, illegal, equality
2 a) free, free, b) freedom c) free d) free e) freedom f) freedom
3 a) there was a law for the slave as well as for the white man
b) he wouldnt own a slave if he were a millionaire
c) Please dont tell Epps if you cant post the letter
d) why he was there and who he was
4 a) 2, b) 3, c) 4, d) 1
5 a) in twos, b) in no fit state, c) in chains, d) in the wrong

Pages 78-79

Exit Test

1 a) 2, b) 2, c) 2, d) 1
2 a) 2 Hamilton and Brown, b) 3 Washington, c) 4 Platt, d) 2 thirty-three, e) 1 Bass
3 a) 3, b) 2, c) 4, d) 1